After 35 years of effective work the publishing house Belaruskaya Entsyklapedyja (Belarusian Encyclopaedia) the authorities decided to evict it from its premises. The order was signed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka personally. Now judges of the Economic court are to take the place of the publishing house.

The situation around the publishing house was commented by a writer Ales Petrashkevich, who has devoted 27 years of life to his work of creating encyclopaedias:

The situation is very alarming. Firstly, the state has deprived the publishing house of the building, which was given to the city economic court. An unmotivated instruction of the head of state to evict the Belaruskaya Entsyklapedyja was issued.It was not said where the publishing house should go. The workers are sitting of their luggage, and the new owner has stared a renovation of the building.

Secondly, in the end of the last year the publishing house had to reduce the staff, from 156 to 95 employees. There is not a single bibliographer in the staff, which is nonsense. The collection of expert editors who have been working for 35 years is destroying.

Encyclopaedias can be published only with an optimal number of editors, at least 150-160 workers. There are so many different sciences, that a little quantity of editors cannot be experts in all spheres. Last year we had 12 branches in the publishing house. Now we have only 3. Is it possible to prepare a serious scientific encyclopaedia? No.

Ruining of the Belaruskaya Entsyklapedyja is taking place in our eyes. It can be compared only with closure of Vilnia university by Russian General Muraviov.Source: www.charter97.org